Guiseppe Licata, proud of his Sicilian heritage, was no less pleased with the round of golf he so seamlessly stitched together yesterday over the famed Burnham & Berrow course in north Somerset.
Playing for the first time in the West Region qualifying round for the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship, the 22-year-old teaching pro at Hambrook Driving Range, near Bristol, fashioned a front nine of 31, five under par, and parred all but one of the remaining nine (a bogey at the 15th was his sole blemish) for a four-under 67, the best of the day among 68 other professionals.
"That's probably the finest round I've had since becoming a professional. I completed my training last year, and my boss at Hambrook, Nicky Lumb, has been very decent in giving me time off to play. And now that I've qualified for the 72-hole final (at Moortown, Leeds at the end of July) I'm sure he'll be OK about that too."
Licata, whose father encouraged him to take up the game at the age of seven, was in peerless form, particularly on the opening nine. Birdies at the first, fourth and fifth were followed by an eagle at the long eighth - then another gain at the next. The eagle, at the 528-yard eighth, came courtesy of a drive, and a five-iron to 25 feet.
But the stroke that meant most to him came in a sequence of duff shots at the long 13th. The tee shot was wild, the second was fat, his third thin as a wafer, but his fourth was an exquisite 40-foot chip from long rough which nestled three feet past the pin, from which he salvaged a welcome par.
Licata won by three strokes from Caerphilly's Matthew Griffiths A cold putter prevented the Oakdale pro from really hitting the heights The 28-year-old still managed a one-under 70, comfortably sending Griffiths through to the Leeds final.
Said Grittiths, who was third in the Welsh professional championship last year at Cardiff, "I was striking the ball well off the tee, hit 16 greens in regulation but I had 33 putts, and that's far too many."
In a tricky crosswind Griffiths' expertise off the tee was amply illustrated at the 194-yard 14th, where a sublime four-iron drew in on the wind and landed seven feet from the flag. Unfortunately the putt stayed above ground.
Newent pro Ian Brown is in the midst of resurrecting his golf career after breaking a wrist almost exactly a year ago.
He fired a level-par 71, good enough to share third with Anthony Williams (Vale), Albert MacKenzie (Saunton) and Michael Watson (Wessex Golf Centre).
Said Brown "Unfortunately I dropped a shot on each of the last two holes - and I know why it happened. I've been making changes to my backswing's plane, and I just started getting twitchy. It was just a lack of trust in it under pressure."
He had a lot to be happy about, though. A new TaylorMade SuperQuad driver, being used for the first time in competition, gave him confidence on the tee, flying out to almost 350 yards on occasion and regularly beyond 290.
"I lipped out on 15 and 16, so I could have finished with a really good score. There are plenty of encouraging signs, and I'm really looking forward to the season."